Poncetastic Christmas Thread 2026

[RainbowZebraWarrior]

Thought I would start this year's thread as there are plenty of folk starting to chat about Christmas makes, bakes and crafts on the Christmas boards.

Wherever you are, Fellatio, here's to you. I hope you're brining a turkey and had crafting authentic organic woven tinsel somewhere!

Here is Fellatio's traditional thread opening:

"OK, first of all, I know it's still September by we need to start this thread now because as you all know, having a truly Poncetastic Christmas involves precision planning, strategy, bravery, heroics, and frequently martyrdom.

So, if you, like me, actually want to make the next twelve weeks of your life a misery by hand-crafting your cards, finding a huge bucket for Nigella's turkey in brine, pickling pears, shrivelling oranges in a low oven for those rustic au naturel decorations, dragging half a holly bush back from the woods, and just generally being a smug annoying jobs worth ponce, join me on this thread.

Feel free to post photos of previous tree-trimming, cake icing or table centrepiece triumphs, discuss this year's bauble colour themes, debate the merits of Delia versus Gordon, road-test a selection of canapés and cocktails, (all in the line of duty) and link to lovely inspirational photos/craft ideas for a truly Poncetastic Christmas.

Warning: If your idea of a good Christmas involves Pizza, ITV, gravy granules or anything with 'Aunt Bessie’s' on the packet, this is not the thread for you"

Welcome, all, and let the Poncing commence!

<cuts metaphorical christmas ribbon>

🎄🎄🎄🎄

Its been a bit hit and miss but I started by laying out a small circle of flattish seaglass within a plastic pringle lid. I then glued together with gorilla glue, a single round layer, then added a layer on top. I'm not sure wether I will add embellishments or leave them plain and just add a pretty ribbon to hang it with. This is the one I'm making at the moment which I have laid on a metallic takeaway container lid, which I'll then cut around with a craft knife.

Hope that all makes sense.

oh I love sea glass but I’ve never had any luck collecting it.
So pretty.

I have been making Lolly Ghosts for Halloween

Sorry @NeededANameChangeAnyway thats an atrocious photo. The light is very poor today. I've now cut it out and strung a ribbon around it. I have some deep green glass and some small red bits that would lok like Holly, but they aren't quite the right size for this wreath, so I might make a bigger one.

P.S. I go to the beach most days and probably have around 50 kilos of seaglass. If I had thought about this at the beginning of the year, I could have made loads and sold them. (Once I get my technique right)

Ooh I'd like to see your lolly ghosts please. I've not done an awful lot Halloween wise as DD is almost 15 now, but I have squashes that we found in the compost heap and munchkin pumpkins everywhere. My Dad has also just sent me a pumpkin and chorizo recipe which is obviously a huge hint (since he grows them for me)

I have posted a pic but waiting for it to show up

Im laughing about pine cones because two friends have turned up with boxes of the today so I must have over a hundred including the ones I bought!
Need to google pine cones crafts.

Try again

Im pinching the lolly ghosts idea for the sweetie bowl at work!

I'll also submit Murder Cake for the perfect Halloween party, red velvet cake, buttercream and red chocomelts

@RainbowZebraWarrior I love your sea glass decoration! Is the glass glued to the backing?

This is such a lovely corner of MN. I’ve just saved the Nigel Slater thread to follow along, and am looking for a copy of the book.

I've tried to reserve it at the library but think I'm third in line......! Won't get it til February!!

Yes it's glued to the back of the metallic card. I felt it gave it more of a reflective quality once it's on a tree with fairy lights. I've been buying those takeaway containers from farm foods at 8 for £1 and rarely use the lids, so it's made good use of them!

Keep an eye on vinted and eBay for NS's Christmas Chronicles. Sometimes, one pops up for a couple of quid. Most at the moment are sitting at £15 to £20 though.

Aw thats a shame. If you have audible or a kindle then thats a good way to get hold of it. I love listening to him.

If your library gives you access to electronic resources like libby you might find the Christmas chronicles there. I borrowed it off libby one year then bought it cheap second hand in spring when it was cheaper.

I’ve missed so much. We were going to Sweden for Christmas and hadn’t really got into the poncing mood but now we are going in January. Sooooo game on!

I’m currently browsing Pinterest for ideas and will re-subscribe to Readdly for the Christmas magazines!

This was yesterday’s Halloween efforts! 😂

You can buy pinecones? I may be missing a trick here, I could make an absolute fortune 😂. I'd love to be able to find seaglass, the nearest beach is fine sand so no chance there (and it's over an hour away),.we do have a river nearby but I've never found any glass, only pretty stones.
Has anyone seen the reel with the reusable tinsle made from stings if beads?

I saw that reel today. They looked beautiful! However I do not trust my cat with those! 😂

She said she made them because her cat would go for real tinsel and this style was OK. I think they'd look better as one long single string, although it would probably ly be a pain to untangle.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/De1wmy_AaGc/?exln=MXBpMG5nZnZlM3FyZA==

This is the original post.

Ohh hello Christmas people ! Just catching up with the thread and once Halloween is over I’m ready to ponce

Those beaded thingys remind me of lametta(?)

This is my poncing for today. Cheap, easy, eco friendly and delightfully rustic. Also immensely satisfying peeling the loo roll cardboard off once the wax is set (so much so, DD and I took turns each) Pure beeswax which I coloured with powdered cinnamon and scented with ginger and clove oils.

Ah this one looks much less in your face than the one I saw, which had very tempting large crystals at the ends that a cat would love to bat about! 😂

I need to start my Christmas cake now. I now go on the annual hunt to see what can I get here in France for the ingredients.
There’s an English shop about an hour north from me which I might go on a jaunt to plus there’s an epic dried fruit stall I’ve discovered in the market.

I dont do Christmas cake but I do usually do a couple of puddings so I need to see if I can convert my usual recipe into a vegan one (marge for butter is easy, not sure about the agg though). I get all my ingredients from Biocoop or My bioshop.

@AlicePotteryI wonder if you could use chickpea water ( might only be good for meringues) or I think I’ve seen something where you soak flax seeds or something to get an eggy textured gel 🤷🏻‍♀️

Interesting question @AlicePottery

There's a BBC Good Food recipe that uses figs and triggered a debate about whether they're vegan in the comments, another recipe used aqua faba chickpea water as @DanceWithYourBalloon suggests, another used chia seeds.

This one uses soya yoghurt and soya milk and sherry and stout and sounds nice but not used it myself

https://www.thevegspace.co.uk/recipe-the-ultimate-vegan-christmas-pudding/#recipe

Jamie Oliver has apple sauce.

Delia's Lindsay comments here on replacing eggs. I think a flax egg would work as suggested by Dancewithballoon.

Sorry for lots of suggestions. Insomnia.
VeganLad uses flax.

https://www.deliaonline.com/ask-lindsey/christmas-pudding-without-egg